Uneven surfaces pose accident risks
Renovation of a two-lane 30-kilometre stretch of the Barisal-Dhaka highway is ongoing without keeping adequate space for overtaking, putting vehicles at risk of accidents and damage and leading to tailbacks.
Till date, around two kilometres of a single lane of the 18-feet wide stretch, from Barisal town's Goriar Par to Barisal's end point at Vurghata, has got a new layer of bitumen.
This has raised the lane some four to 12 inches from the strip of ground on one side and some four or five inches from the untouched lane on the other.
During the day, the construction workers allow traffic on only the untouched lane, intermittently halting vehicles at both ends. But with no one to man the section at night, vehicles start using the raised lane.
Drivers plying the route say that if a vehicle behind on the raised lane wants to pass or an oncoming one can be seen to be in need of space while passing another, one has to move to the left, inevitably forcing the left wheels to run over the strip of ground.
If one does so, the vehicle risks damage to its lower section for the left and right wheels are not running on an even surface. If the vehicle continues on its path, it risks a head-on collision with the oncoming one, they said.
Moreover the vehicle behind seeking to overtake it has to either move at the speed of the vehicle in front till it passes the raised lane or has to overtake it by running the wheels on the right down the untouched lane, hence damaging the vehicle in the same manner, they added.
The solution is already incorporated in the Tk 14-crore renovation project -- dumping earth on the adjacent strip of ground to bring it to the same level as of the raised lane, thereby allowing vehicles to move to the left and let another pass.
Khalid Shahed, executive engineer at the Roads and Highways Department, Barisal office, told The Daily Star that the standard practice was to go for the levelling simultaneously with the renovation, section by section.
However, Samir Kumar Pal, project manager of Orient Trading Builders Limited, which is conducting the renovation, says they would go for the levelling once the whole 30-kilometre stretch gets a new layer of bitumen.
Dumping the earth beforehand will leave the renovated highway muddy, he reasoned. Khaled assured of ordering the contractor to go for the levelling early.
Beginning on October 15, the renovation of the stretch, containing several patches of potholes, is scheduled to be completed by December.
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